


Cooking by the Book... Minus the Book

by Shapeshiftinterest



Category: Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart (Cartoon)
Genre: Cooking, Copycat - Freeform, Gen, Learning how to cook, assuming that the mao in the show's flashbacks is around 5 years old, based off of when my dad taught me how to fry salmon, but he was teaching me how to cook the stomach part, headcanon that mao mao learned how to cook from watching, headcanon that shin mao teaches his daughters how to cook, kid!Mao, klirnsday is tuesday, like i already knew how to cook it in general, mao mao is 2 years old in this, or that he's self taught, which is thinner and cut into strips instead of chunks???, which is why he uses estimates so much in the Head Chef episode
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:21:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24319510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shapeshiftinterest/pseuds/Shapeshiftinterest
Summary: Shin Mao teaches Brunhilde (and Mao Mao) how to fry salmon
Relationships: Mao Mao & Brunhilde, Mao Mao & Shin Mao, Mao Mao Mao & Shin Mao, Shin Mao & Brunhilde
Comments: 3
Kudos: 41





	Cooking by the Book... Minus the Book

**Author's Note:**

> based off of when my dad taught me how to do it
> 
> assuming that flashback kid!mao is about 5yrs old, the one in this fic is 2yrs old
> 
> according to Parker Simmons, Klirnsday is the equivalent of Tuesday
> 
> big thank you to @zephyrous for being my beta reader!!

Klirnsday was cooking lesson day, the day Shin Mao would bring one of his daughters to the kitchen an they would spend the whole day learning how to prepare a dish while the other four did independent training.

  
Today, however, his wife was shopping for more supplies in the next town over, so Moo Moo would be joining them.

  
Shin winced. His ribs ached, remembering the crushing grip she had when hugging him goodbye, making him promise nothing would happen to their youngest kit. 

Eh whatever, he was just a toddler. The 2 year old was even smaller than his sisters had been at that age. What could go wrong?

* * *

Brunhilde set her baby brother onto the kitchen counter next to his Lucky Ducky plush. Dad had said it would be easier to keep an eye on him if he was closer to the work station.

  
“Hildie, keep an eye on your brother for a bit,” Shin said, rooting through the fridge.

She looked back at the youngest Mao, surprised to see him staring back with his fist in his mouth. Her left ear twitched. Mao Mao stopped sucking on his paw, turning his attention to his older sister’s ear before twitching his own.

"Heh.”

He smiled as Brunhilde tried to quiet her giggles, eyes crinkling at the corners.

_THUD!_

The siblings jumped at the sound of a giant salmon slapping against the chopping board. Mao Mao accidentally bit his fist and choked a little on his spit.

“Okay! First thing’s first, go wash your hands while I clean this sucker,” Shin said, looking down at them before looking for the descaler.

After thoroughly washing their hands, Shin rinsed and descaled the salmon before letting Brunhilde cut it into rectangular pieces. She looked for a bowl to put them in while their dad got the salt and garlic powder.

Neither of the older cats noticed Mao Mao crawling across the counter. The toddler pulled a saliva soaked paw out of his mouth and slapped it onto the salmon.

Delighted at the weird sound, Mao Mao let go of his plushie and proceeded to viciously smack at the fish pieces with both paws, occasionally kneading them with his tiny claws. 

It felt kind of gross, in a fun way-

“Oh, gross!” 

-until he felt two large paws lift him up and bring him to the sink.

“Wash your hand before you put it in your mouth again, Mao Mao.“ Brunhilde frowned at him before scrubbing his paws with soap. “You could get sick.“

Once his paws were clean she brought his high chair over and sat him down.

“Hurry up, Hildie! This fish isn’t going to season itself, HA!”

“Yes Daddy.“

Mao Mao squirmed in his seat as he watched the older Maos rub salt and garlic powder into the salmon, upset that he couldn’t play with the fish too. He (regretfully) flung his plushie in their direction.

“Mee Mo, quit it. I’m trying to teach your sister how to cook.”

“No!“

“Mao Mao-“ Brunhilde started.

“No, no, no, no, no!“ Mao Mao slammed his little fists on the high chair tray, glaring at them defiantly. “I wanna fish too!!“

Shin sighed and signaled for Brunhilde to cut her brother a small slice of already salted salmon and some garlic powder. Mao Mao giggled and immediately started slapping it. 

“Hildie, I gotta take a whiz. Watch your brother for me while I’m gone, ‘kay sport?” he said, washing his hands before ruffling his daughter’s fur and heading to the bathroom.

“I really wish he’d stop saying it like that,“ Brunhilde muttered, fixing her fur.

“Hildie, Hildie! Look!“ She turned around only to gasp in horror. Within the seconds it took for their dad to announce his bathroom break, Mao Mao had somehow managed to spill garlic powder everywhere. 

Good lord it was even on the ceiling! How?!?!

“Hildie, look! ‘m like you!“ Mao Mao beamed at her from his high chair as he rolled his salmon piece on the tray.

Brunhilde wanted to cry.

-cleaning time skip-

Shin had come back from his bathroom break to tell them he was going to check on the their sister’s training until it was time to actually cook the fish, giving Brunhilde about half an hour to kill.

 _Might as well do the dishes_ , she shrugged. She could feel her brother’s giant baby eyes staring at the back of her head from across the table.

After a moment, Brunhilde sighed and put the knife back in the sink. 

“Do you wanna help me out?“

Mao Mao shook his head, paused, and then nodded so fast she thought he’d fall from his high chair. Five seconds later he was sitting on the counter, laser focused on swishing soapy water around in a plastic bowl.

Every now and then he’d look at what she was doing and then swish the water in the opposite direction.

-30 minutes later-

  
The siblings watched as Shin slowly lowered a salmon piece onto the sizzling pan. Brunhilde shifted her hold on her brother as the oil hissed at them.

  
“Y’see kids, you gotta arrange the pieces slowly.” Shin put more salmon in before leaving the tongs on a nearby plate. “If you just drop them in the pan super fast, the oil’s gonna fly everywhere and you could get burned.”

  
He stepped back a little. “Here Hildie, try turning that one over. This side’s already done.”

Brunhilde dragged the high chair close enough so Mao Mao could watch, but not close enough that there was any chance of him getting burned. 

She took the tongs and carefully lifted one of the pieces, eyes widening in panic as it broke in half and splashed back into the oil. She flinched, hurriedly dropping the other half of the salmon in surprise and hissing at the fish.  
Shin laughed before taking the tongs from her and flipping the ones that dropped, using the tongs to break a different piece in half . 

“Slowly, Hildie. It’s okay if they break because that makes them easier to hold.” He passed the tongs to her. “Here, try again.“

This time Brunhilde successfully flipped the pieces over. 

“Thatta girl!“

“Me too!! My turn!!“ Mao Mao made grabby motions towards the her, eyes bright. 

“No Mao, you’re not strong enough to hold the tongs.“ He pouted at his sister. 

“Here, fold this and put it in the bowl so I can put the fish in it, can you do that for me?“ She handed him the bowl and a paper towel and he smiled, still a little upset that he wouldn’t get to use the tongs, but happy to be included anyway.

She kept frying the salmon pieces until the bowl was mostly full before setting it aside to make rice, which Mao Mao also insisted on helping make. (He mostly just swished the rice a little before Brunhilde drained it.)

Brunhilde looked around the kitchen just in case they missed any dishes. Shin had gone to check on the other girls again, leaving her to put Mao Mao down for a nap and finish cleaning up.

“Hildie, uppy!!“ Mao Mao popped his fist out of his mouth to reach for her with a saliva soaked paw, gripping his Lucky Ducky plush in the other. Ew.

She wiped the saliva off, picked him up and walked to his room, setting him down in the crib. They’d probably have to move him to a bed soon. 

She smiled at him and squished his cheeks. “You did such a good job helping today, Mao!” He wiggled in her hold and squealed in delight, using his free hand to hold her wrist while the other happily waved his plush around.

“Are you gonna do a good job sleeping now?“

“Yeah!” He laughed and flopped onto his side, kicking his legs excitedly and wiggling some more. Brunhilde snickered at her brother, tucking him in and turning off the light before going to join their sisters for a little extra training until it was time for dinner.

**Author's Note:**

> I mean I already knew how to cook salmon in general  
> but our dad was trying to teach me how to cook the stomach part of it  
> which is different apparently?? it's like, thinner and cut into strips instead of chunks or something
> 
> steps or whatever for salmon in general:
> 
> 1) wash and descale salmon if it isn't already descaled (use descaler or a knife in the opposite direction of the scales)
> 
> 2) dry salmon on paper towels
> 
> 3) rub salt and garlic powder on both sides 
> 
> 4) put in bowl and saranwrap the top, leave in fridge to marinate for 30 min
> 
> 5a) if you cut it into pieces before seasoning it, you can just fry them in a pan  
> ____________________________________________________________________________________  
> 5b) if you left it whole or cut it in half, line a baking pan with aluminum foil and put the fish inside
> 
> 6) make sure the oven is preheated to 350 degrees and bake the fish for 30 minutes, we usually pour Hawaiian teriyaki sauce before putting it in the oven so it soaks into the fish


End file.
